Lid support



Um; 193, E, G slMPSON mwfiw LID SUPPORT Filed Feb. 15, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEYS.

E. G. SIMPSON Dec, 6, 193%.,

LID SUPPORT 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Feb. 15, 1937 M 9 m 4 IV 5 Z M /3 LMW ATTORNEY;

Patented Dec. 6, 1938 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 15, 1937, Serial No. 125,722

10 Claims.

This invention relates to a lid support.

A deck lid support is old and well-known such as are used for supporting the hinged deck lid for the rear compartment of an automobile 5 wherein the operation of the lid support is such that upon fully raising the lid and then slightly lowering the same the lid support is automatically latched and thus supports the lid in raised position and wherein the lowering of the lid is 10 preceded by a slight raising of the same which automatically unlatches the lid support to permit collapsing of the same. Although this general type of lid support is old, the lid supports heretofore used have not been altogether satisfacl5 tor because the automatic latching and unlatchin arrangement was often defective and the lid support lacked the necessary strength to support the lid. When a pair of this type of lid supports is used with a lid, the need for dependable 20 operation of automatic latching and unlatching arrangement under all circumstances is obvious.

In particular the one trouble which has arisen is that the one lid support will automatically un-' l 35 deck lid closed.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the latching and unlatching of the lid support during the raising and lowering of the lid. 1

Fig. '7 is a section along the line 'I-'l of Fig. 4.

40 Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view. showing the counterbalancing spring.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a modified form of the lid support.

Fig. 10 is a section along the line Ill-l of 45 Fig. 9.

Referring more particularly to the drawings there is shown an automobile having the rear deck lid 1 hinged to the body as at 2. The lid is arranged to be supported in raised position by 50 a lid support comprising two tubes 3 and 4. The tube 3 is slidably telescoped within the tube 4. The tube 3 is hinged to the deck as at 5 and tube 4 is hinged to the deck lid I as at 6. The upper end 1 of the tube 3 is closed. The tube 3 has 55 fixed thereto a pin 8 positioned diametrically of (Cl. 217-450) g I the tube 3. The pin 8 has an'end 9 which extends beyond the circumference or outer face of the tube 3. The tube 4 is provided with a longitu; dinal slot [0 in which the outer end 9 of the pin 8 slides to permit the sliding of the tube 3 within 5 the tube 4 during the raising and lowering of the lid I. A clamp H is secured on the outer end of the slotted tube 4 to prevent the same from spreading.

For the purpose of latching the lid support in 10 raised position a keeper for, and arranged to cooperate with, the pin 8 is pivotally supported on the tube 4. To this end a bracket I2 is welded or otherwise fixed to the outside of the tube 4. The keeper I3 is hinged to the bracket l2 by the pin I4 to provide a friction joint sufiicient to retain the keeper in whatever position it is swung."

The keeper l3 comprises a metal stamping provided with a flange H: which cooperates with an island l6 welded or otherwise fixed centrally of the keeper l3 to form a trackway along which the pin head 9 travels during the latching and unlatching of the support. The flange I5, as shown in the drawings, extends completely around the keeper except for the pivoted or upper end of. the same. At this point the two ends of the flange l5 are positioned on opposite sides of the slot I0 and cooperate to form a mouth ll. through which the pin head 9 enters and leaves the keeper 13. The flange I5 is also'formed with cam faces as shown in the drawings and described below.

The keeper trackway comprises a raising trackway portion I8 on the one side of the keeper and a lowering trackway portion IS on the other side of the keeper; A switch is provided over the end 5 of the lowering trackway H3 in the former a fiat spring 20 which is spot welded or otherwise fixed adjacent its end as at 2| to the island" l6,

A coil spring 22 is fixed within the tube 4 between the bottom 23 of the same and theclo'sed 40 end 1 of the other tube 3. For retaining the spring 22 in position'within the tub-e 4 one end 24 of the spring is fixed in an opening 25in the tube 4. The spring 22 serves asa shock absorber when the lid l is lowered: andalso serves as a counterbalancing spring to assist in the raising of the lid I during a portion-ofits upward swing.

As the lid approaches lowered position the closed end I of the tube 4 engages and compresses the spring 22 whereby the spring serves bothf asa shock absorber and counterbalance forfthe lid.

The operation of the lidsupport'is as follows: The position of the parts when the lidis lowered is shown in Fig.2. As thelid is raised the pin 9 1 travels along the slot l0 where it passes through the mouth ll of the keeper and then travels along the raising trackway II (the switch spring keeping the pin from entering the lowering trackway II) and upon engaging cam surface Bl swings the keeper counter-clockwise until it strikes the corner 21 (Fig. 3) which serves'as a stop to arrest upward movement of the lid 1. The lid is now in fully raised position. Upon lowering the lid the pin I strikes the cam face 28 which causes the keeper I! to swing counterclockwise from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4 and the pin 8 engages the notch 29 in the island. The lid is now in raised latched or supported position. To lower the lid the same is first raised slightly whereupon the pin 0 passes out of the notch 29, strikes the cam surface 30 to swing the keeper I! still further counter-clockwise from the position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 5 until the pin 8 reaches corner 3| of the keeper II which serves as a stop to arrest further upward swinging oi the lid I. At this time the lid can now be lowered and the pin head 9 travels along the lowering trackway I9, as shown in Fig. 6, and then past the switch 20 through the mouth I! of the keeper l3 back to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The modified form of the lid support, shown in Figs. 9 and i0. differs primarily from the principal form only in that the telescoping members 33 and 34. which correspond to tubular members I and 4, are of channel section rather than tubular, and in that a convolute counterbalancing spring 35 is provided rather than the he ical counterbalancing spring 22 of the principal form. The convolute spring 35 has one end 36 secured in the end of the support pin 31 fixed to the channel member 33. The support pin 31 is journaled in fixed bracket and thus serves as a pivot about which member 33 swings. The other end 38 of the spring 35 engages a lug 39 on the fixed' bracket 40 as shown. Thus the counterbalancing spring 35 counterbalances the weight of the lid throughout the entire raising and lowering of the same.

1. A lid support comprising a pair ,of telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering oi the lid. a keeper swingably mounted on one of said membe s. said member also having an elongated slot, a pin fixed to the other member and arranged to travel in said slot during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and stop and thereby latch said support in lid supporting position. a

2. A lid support comprising a pair of telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keep er swingably mounted on oneoi said members, said member also having an elongated rectilinear slot extending lengthwise thereof, a pin fixed to the other member having a portion projecting into said slot and arranged to travel therein during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and stop and thereby latch said support in lid supporting position.

3. A lid support comprising a pair of hollow telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper swingably mounted on the outside of the outer telescopic member, said outer member having an elongated slot, a pin fixed" to the inner member having a portion projecting into said slot and arranged to travel therein during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and stop and thereby latch said support in lid supporting position.

4. A lid support comprising a pair of telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper swingably mounted on one of said members, said member also having an elongated slot, a pin fixed to the other member and arranged to travel in said slot during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having an island and a trackway around said island including raising and lowering trackway portions along which said pin travels and a plurality of stops for said pin, said pin, trackway, island and stops being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper upon raising of the lid to engage the pin and one of said stops to arrest further raising of the lid and upon lowering the lid to engage said pin in the second of said stops to hold the lid in raised position and upon further raising of the lid disengages said pin and second stop and engages said pin with a third stop to again arrest further upward movement of the lid prior to lowering the same.

5. A lid support comprising a pair of telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, one of said members having an elongated rectilinear slot extending lengthwise thereof, a keeper swingably mounted on said last mentioned member and arranged to swing transversely of the said slot, a pin fixed to the other telescoped member and projecting into said slot and arranged to travel therein during the sliding oi the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway also including a mouth normally aligned with the elongated slot whereby the pin enters said keeper and trackway through said mouth and swings the keeper as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and stop and thereby latch said support in lid supporting position.

6. A lid support comprising a pair of tubular telescoped members arranged to slide one with the other during the raising and lowering 01' the lid, a keeper, a friction hinge for swingably mounting the keeper on one of the tubular members, said member also having an elongated rectilinear slot extending lengthwise thereof, a pin fixed to the other member having a portion pro- Jecting into said slot and arranged to, travel therein during the sliding of the one tubular member within the other, said pin also serving as a sliding key to prevent rotating of the one tubeabout the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper transversely of the said slot as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and slot and thereby latch the said support in lid'supporting posi- I tion.

7. A lid support comprising a pair 01 channel telescoped members arranged to slide one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper, a friction hinge for swingably mounting the keeper on one of the channel members, said member also having an elongated rectilinear slot extending lengthwise thereof, a pin fixed to the other member having a portion projecting into said slot and arranged to travel therein during the sliding of the one channel member within the other, said pin also serving as a sliding key to prevent rotating of the one tube about the other, said swingable keeper having a trackway along which said pin travels and a stop for said pin, said trackway being arranged whereby the pin swings said keeper transversely of the said slot as it travels along said trackway to engage said pin and slot and thereby latch the said support in lid supporting position.

8. A lid support comprising a pair of hollow telescoped members slidable one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper, a friction hinge for swingably mounting the said keeper on one of said telescoped members, said member also having an elongated slot across which the keeper is arranged to swing, a pin fixed to the other telescopic member and arranged to travel in said slot during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having an island and a peripheral flange cooperating with the saidisland to form a trackway including raising and lowering trackway portions along which said pin travels, the said flange terminating on opposite sides of the said slot to form a mouth through which the pin enters said trackway, said island having a stop located on the side of the island remote from the said mouth, a pair of stops positioned on opposite sides of the said stop in the island, said island and flange having cam surfaces cooperating with the said stops whereby when the lid is raised the pin swings the keeper and engages one of said stops on one side of the island to arrest upward movement of the lid and upon lowering of the lid said pin is directed into engagement with the stop in the said island to hold the lid in raised position and upon further raising oi the lid the pin disengages said island stop and is directed into engagement with the stop on the opposite side of the island to again arrest further upward movement of the lid prior to lowering the same.

9. A lid support comprising a pair of hollow telescoped members slidable one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper, a friction hinge for swingably mounting the said keeper on one of said telescoped members, said member also having an elongated slot across which the keeper is arranged to swing. a pin fixed to the other telescopic member and arranged to travel in said slot during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having an island and a trackway about said island including raising and lowering trackway portions along which said pin travels, the said trackway having a mouth opening into the said ,slot through which the pin enters said trackway, said island having a stop located on the side of the' island remote from the said mouth, a pair of stops positioned on opposite sides of the said stop in the island, said island and trackway having cam surfaces cooperating with the said stops whereby when the lid is raised the pin swings the keeper and engages one of said stops on one side of the island to arrest upward movement of the lid and upon lowering of the lid said pin is directed into engagement with the stop in the said island to hold the lid in raised position and upon further raising of the lid the pin disengages said island stop and is directed into engagement with the stop on the opposite side of the island to again arrest further upward movement of the lid prior to lowering the same.

10. A lid support comprising a pair of hollow telescoped members slidable one within the other during the raising and lowering of the lid, a keeper, a friction hinge for swingably mounting the said keeper on one of said telescoped members, said member also having an elongated slot across which the keeper is arranged to swing, a pin fixed to the other telescopic member and arranged to travel in said slot during the sliding of the one member within the other, said swingable keeper having an island and a peripheral flange cooperating with the said island to form a trackway including raising and lowering trackway portions along which said pin travels, the said flange terminating on opposite sides of the said slot to form a mouth through which the pin enters said trackway, a yieldable switch positionedmt the end of the lowering trackway portion for shunting the pin into the raising trackway portion upon raising the lid and permitting the pin to pass out of the lowering trackway upon lowering of the lid, said island having a stop located on the side of the island remote from the said mouth, a pair of stops positioned on opposite sides of the said stop in the island, said island and flange having cam surfaces cooperating with the said stops whereby when the lid is raised the pin swings the keeper and engages one of said stops on one side of the island to arrest upward movement of the lid and upon lowering of the lid said pin is directed into engagement with the stop in the said island to hold the lid in raised position and upon further raising of the lid the pin disengages said island stop and is directed into engagement with the stop on the opposite side of the island to again arrest further upward movement of the lid prior to lowerin: the same.

EMORY GLENN SIMPSON. 

